Stuffitis and Wealth Building

Stuffitis and Wealth Building

Radio financial adviser Dave Ramsey has a name for it ? stuffitis. The need to constantly buy things that may be above and beyond your financial station in life. One thing is certain. If you succumb to stuffitis now, wealth building in the future might be that much more difficult. Just out of school into your first job, it seems that the parental units have it all ? a home of their own, grown up toys, spending money ? all the stuff you want and right now, by gosh.

It seems unfair that you don’t have it.

Hold on a second. Let’s top and ponder this a moment. You don’t think they started out their working life with all that, do you? For almost everyone, wealth building takes time. Remember you didn’t know your parents when they were younger. You didn’t see them scrimping and scratching to save for a down payment on that first apartment and, later, a first house.

Unless you manage to catch lightning in a bottle and make your fortune in one brilliant invention, like Bill Gates did with the Windows operating system, you’re going to have to do it the old fashioned way over time. It took Warren Buffett decades to maneuver himself into the renowned position of billionaire that he finds himself in now.

So here’s our advice. Do whatever you have to do to cure your stuffitis. Don’t take on consumer debt for new cars, kick-ass stereos, and all the other crap that saddles you with financial bondage you may never recover from. Live according to your means from the beginning and watch your means steadily increase as time goes by. That’s the secret to wealth building.